Latest / HBCWestminster / 9.11.22 John 6:1-15 Doug Stoner

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9.11.22 John 6:1-15 Doug Stoner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  It's always a privilege to be able to come back to Highland. For those of you who don't know who I am, I'll give a quick introduction of me and also my family. For those of you who have seen me before, we sure appreciate you guys. We have been missionaries serving in Central Europe and Slovakia for about 20 years. We actually went to Slovakia 28 years ago. In two days, September 13th is when we arrived, 28 years ago.
• 0:27
  Our son, Ryan, who's 28 in this picture, was nine months old when we arrived. Megan was actually born in Vienna. She's 25. My wife, Tricia, we've been married now for 36 years. And so it's our privilege to be able to serve there. And one of the things we did in Slovakia, and again, a quick...
• 0:47
  Review of geography. You may not know where Slovakia is. You may not know where Austria is. But you probably know where Germany is. So I'll start with Germany, kind of in the middle part of Europe. If you go southeast, you'll hit Austria. And then if you go east of that, you'll hit Slovakia. And then further east of Slovakia is actually Ukraine. So that gives you a little bit of context of where we are.
• 1:11
  in slovakia we learned slovak worked with the churches there in helping them as they in whatever we could in working with the evangelical churches there and starting new churches so working the areas of research and in networking and in facilitation training really in in a number of different roles and so we've had the privilege of being there for our first 20 years for these last nine we have been in vienna austria as we moved there
• 1:38
  both for education for Megan as she finished off high school, as well as working with our organization pioneers in some of our teams in Central Europe, as well as in Spain and Portugal. So kind of did a lot of traveling. Finished that role with pioneers last fall. And so we've been working for this last year with our international church in Vienna called the International Chapel of Vienna.
• 2:03
  a very unique church international churches typically are in english we have lots and lots of people that come in and through vienna it's a obviously the capital of austria as well as the second biggest location for the un facility so lots of people are in and out
• 2:23
  On a typical service, we'll have 60 people and maybe 30 to 40 different nationalities. It really is an amazing thing to be able to serve in a church that is really, as we see people come through the church and then go back either to their home country or another place of service.
• 2:40
  of being able to be a part of that journey for them as they continue to spread the gospel throughout the earth. And that's what our current ministry is. So my wife, Tricia, and also her mom, Jo, are here. They're resting. They were at the 8 o'clock service. We got up early this morning to drive up from Parker. They'll be here afterwards, so we'll be in the fellowship hall to be able to talk further. You have, and you got, hopefully, this little half sheet that you were handed to. It talks a little bit about the ministry the Lord's given us,
• 3:10
  and we have a prayer list that a number of you are on. We send out a monthly prayer update. If you'd like to get that, just email me. I'd be glad to get you on that list. Then we send out newsletters about four times a year, get our picture, which this is our picture, taken in California last year. Again, so that's Megan and Ryan. Megan is a children's pastor for this last year, southwest of London.
• 3:37
  working with kids from basically newborns up to 12. She's learned the ins and the outs, the ups and the downs, the heartbreak also of ministry that she's been doing there in the church. And so she just started a year ago. Ryan is finishing off his PhD in geology at University of California at Santa Barbara. It's been a long road for him. He hopes to finish with his defense next month and then move to Miami, Florida.
• 4:04
  for a postdoc position there that he would be at for two years. So that's a quick update of our family. Again, for all the things the Lord's been doing, we thank him for everything that's been happening. Let me pray for us as we start. Lord, again, thank you that you are a God who saves, the one that we can trust and depend on and abide in. Thank you that you're the God that we can look to, Lord, when we feel so inadequate, when you are the one who supplies our needs. Thank you for the songs we've sung.
• 4:33
  Lord, I pray that you guide my words. Lord, also in all of us, as we hear your word, that we would apply it to our lives. Lord, you know each heart that's here. You know the struggles, the joys that each one of us are facing. Lord, I thank you that your word meets us where we are. Lord, you change us. You cause us to become more like you. So Lord, we praise you that it's your work and that we get to be a part of it. We thank you, Lord, in your name. Amen. So the situation was desperate.
• 5:02
  There were little resources, no hope, and little confidence that anything would change. You might say, are you talking about me? Are you talking about me? How did you know that? I know that because I know what that feeling is like. And even as we were working in Vienna, we had a number of refugees that were coming from the Ukraine. And as our church was reaching out, that's certainly what we felt like in many times. And you may be feeling that as well.
• 5:33
  And one of the things that we're going to see as we study the feeding of the 5,000 in John chapter 6 is how Jesus meets us in precisely those places when we feel so inadequate in what he does to show his glory and to work in and through us, even in our lack of resources, even in our great feeling of inadequacy that we're going to have.
• 5:57
  This sermon is actually part one of two parts. I did these back in March of this year at our church. It's a day in the life of Jesus. And the Feeding of the 5,000 actually takes place from probably about mid-afternoon or so to the evening. And then you had Jesus walking on the water with the disciples out in the boat, which happens that night. And so one of the things when I talked to Danny and the staff, I said, I actually want to do two different sermons, not at the same time.
• 6:24
  But you guys are going to hear the feeding of the 5,000. And it also helps me because sometimes when you preach three times, you think, did I already say that? And you kind of make sure you kind of keep track. But one of the things we're going to talk about at 11, you're welcome to come back, and Danny said that's fine, is we're going to talk about Jesus walking on the water and the other half of the day in the life of Jesus. So if you want to either stay for that or if you see it online, I welcome you to do that.
• 6:52
  both of them actually complement one another. We're going to see in this first part of the Feeding the 5,000 about how Jesus meets in our inadequacies. But then, and especially as Hallie was mentioning, Jesus walking on the water, how he meets us in our fears. So inadequacy, fears, I bet you can relate. I bet you can relate. So we're going to be reading about this. And so the situation in John chapter 6, and I'm going to read it right now. John chapter 6, verses 1 to 11.
• 7:22
  Listen to this, and this is a unique story. Apart from the resurrection, it's the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It shows you the impact that this story had on the disciples and on the followers of Jesus. And we're going to see that that's really, really true. The only miracle that is recorded in all four. I'm going to read from John chapter 6, verses 1 to 15. It says this, After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee.
• 7:50
  also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover. Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, where can we buy bread to feed all these people? He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
• 8:17
  Philip replied, even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them. Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what good is that with this huge crowd? Tell everyone to sit down, Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. The men alone numbered about 5,000. Then Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks to God and distributed them to the people. Afterward, he did the same with the fish.
• 8:46
  and they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, now gather the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. So they picked up the pieces and filled 12 baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, surely he is the prophet we have been expecting. When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.
• 9:18
  As we come to this passage, we're going to see, I want to have you understand a little bit about the context about this passage as we get into it. First of all, it's a very sobering time. One of the things that happened is that one of the reasons why Jesus crossed the lake at this time was that his cousin John the Baptist was recently beheaded. The jealous wife of King Herod was out to get John the Baptist. She finally figured out how to do that.
• 9:43
  And so then the disciples of John the Baptist told Jesus, and of course he's in mourning of what happened, to the man who was proclaiming him and being his predecessor. And so it was a very sobering time. It was also a very tiring time. The disciples, right about that same time, Jesus sent them out by twos into all the different villages that Jesus was about to go to, to proclaim the word, to heal the sick. And they came back, and they were bone tired. They were pooped.
• 10:11
  And they needed some time away. And that was one of the other reasons why Jesus got in the boat was to get away from the crowds because there was so much going on. It says in another passage that disciples didn't even have enough time to eat. And you know, eating is important. We remember the story of some friends of ours. They were getting married and the father of the bride told the groom, just from his experience, he said, if she ever gets cranky, feed her.
• 10:39
  You know, and that's the thing, not just for women, but for all of us. You know, if we're hungry, things aren't going so well. And so this was a time the disciples, they didn't even have enough time to eat. They were tired. They were hungry. We're going to see the crowds were also tired and also hungry. So that was a big need. There was another time that it was. It wasn't only a tiring time.
• 10:58
  It wasn't just a sobering time, it was an expectant time. Because this was the Passover, one year before Jesus would be going to the cross. And every year at Passover, there was a promise we're going to read later about this prophet figure who was going to succeed Moses.
• 11:16
  And so every Passover as they're thinking about Moses and thinking about Israel leaving Egypt, is this going to be the year? Is this going to be the year that we get the prophet, the new prophet that's going to come in and ring in all the things that are new for our country? And so everybody's kind of thinking about this. It's kind of like just, okay, this is the time. And so we even have met this already in the passage that we read.
• 11:39
  The location of the feeding of the 5,000 was an unpopulated area on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is kind of like an upside-down pear. So it's kind of in this northeast corner, tucked away from all the different villages and towns. And that also is a factor of the things that we're going to be reading about also. It's a day in the life of Jesus. A day in the life of Jesus. What a day he was going to have. And so as we see this passage, we're going to see a number of different things.
• 12:07
  Jesus, as he comes to this crowd and as he works in them, we're going to see three things that are important about how Jesus works. First of all, he meets us and encourages us and builds our faith. He builds our faith. We're going to see how he does that. Then he's going to show his generous nature of who he is as he meets the needs that are out there. Meets the needs in the inadequacies of the disciples.
• 12:33
  And then lastly, he focuses the people there as well as us to believe in him. To do what the miracles were really pointing to was just who Jesus was and that we needed to trust him. So we're going to see those three things as we look there. As Jesus went to the other side, you already see as we read this passage that the crowds were relentless. They were following him. Jesus was their hometown boy. This is the area of Galilee. It's kind of like, hey, he's our boy. He's our guy.
• 13:01
  He's feeding us. He's out there. He's doing miracles. He's doing all these fun things. We're going to go after him. And so you start even to see right away Jesus' generous nature that even when he's tired, even when he's getting away from the crowds, he still ministers to them. He heals their sick, we read in other passages, and then he's going to come to this passage as well. And so we already see some of the character of Jesus as we come into this point. And so first of all, we're going to see how Jesus encourages and builds our faith in the midst of the crisis.
• 13:31
  If you look at the four different gospel accounts of this feeding of the 5,000, you have an idea and a sense of what's going on. And one of the things that's important to realize, they all mention about feeding of the 5,000. They always say it's the men that numbered 5,000. Well, when you think about it, probably there were as many women as men in the crowd, so that's probably 10,000. And I'm going to guess there's probably as many children out there as there are men and women together.
• 14:01
  So just kind of a rough guess, we can use probably about 20,000 people were together when Jesus did this. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people that are all around Jesus, and we're going to see all very hungry at this time. So I'm going to read this composite about the disciples.
• 14:19
  And it says this, late in the afternoon, the 12 disciples came to Jesus and said, send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place. But Jesus said, that isn't necessary. You feed them. With what? They asked. Turning to Philip, he asked, where can we buy bread to feed all these people? He was testing Philip. We already knew what he was going to do.
• 14:47
  Philip replied, even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them just a little. How much bread do you have, Jesus asked. Go and find out. Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what good is that for this huge crowd? Bring them here, Jesus said. And so here you have a situation, first of all, in this situation where they're in this...
• 15:18
  lonely place. So think of 20,000 people like in Estes Park, like maybe in Rocky Mountain National Park. There's nothing around. There's no 7-Elevens. There's no McDonald's. You're out in the middle of nowhere. And all these people are here. And the disciples start realizing, hey, we don't have food. They don't have food. They've been around all day. They've been eating all their lunch. They've been bringing all their stuff that they want. It's gone. And now it's getting late.
• 15:47
  They're all still here, Jesus. You need to do something. You need to tell them to go away. And so Jesus then turns around and he says, but no, actually you're going to feed them. You're going to do something. And so the first thing that Jesus does to encourage our faith is that he helps us realize that there are no resources that are available. I am out of whatever I need to be able to do the job.
• 16:13
  Jesus is pointing that out. In fact, he also tells the disciples, not only is there a lack of resources, you're going to be the one that feeds them. Well, you know what? If the disciples were kind of feeling bad in the first part about that there's no resources, well, now they really feel bad because now it's not only that they don't have any resources, but it's on them to solve the problem. And they're going, how are we going to do that? We don't have anything. And so you see that, first of all, as,
• 16:43
  Jesus builds our faith. Many times what happens, the first thing he does is tear down everything else we might be trusting in so that we become desperate. We become desperate enough to have to trust him in ways that we've never trusted him before. And that's what the disciples were feeling. It was already hard enough, but now it's even harder. And now all of a sudden they're responsible and they are really feeling the lowest of lows.
• 17:08
  And that may be where you are right now. You may be feeling totally inadequate. In fact, the situation may not be getting better. It might be getting worse for you. And you're feeling even lower. Well, that may be precisely the point that Jesus wants you to be because of what he's going to do. And so you have, it says, Andrew says, or Philip says, he says, we could work for months and not have enough to feed everybody. Well, literally it says,
• 17:37
  200 days worth of wages would not feed these crowds even a little bit so i thought 200 days take a minimum wage job that's about ten thousand dollars so about ten thousand dollars is kind of what he's thinking of well what can you buy for ten thousand dollars well you could buy about ten thousand mcdonald's cheeseburgers so about ten thousand mcdonald's cheeseburgers that's kind of what they do for their deal about a dollar cheeseburger
• 18:03
  Well, think of 20,000 people splitting up 10,000 McDonald's cheeseburgers, half a cheeseburger per person. Well, that's not much. If you're hungry, you know, you can probably eat a couple cheeseburgers, but half a cheeseburger when I'm already hungry? That gives you the idea that you've been all day and you don't have any food. That's all you've got. And so that's what Philip is saying. How could we ever do that? We don't even have that money, but that's what you're looking at to feed a crowd that big.
• 18:31
  But again, Jesus encourages our faith. It's only in him. And so he starts moving to a solution. He says, go and find out what you have. Go and find out. Simple. And notice when Andrew comes back, who's another hometown boy, he said, notice he didn't even say we had five loaves and two fish. He had to find a boy, maybe someone he knew, someone he grew up with, or a child of someone he grew up with. He said, here's a boy with five loaves and two fish, but what good is that for the crowd?
• 19:00
  But Jesus just didn't ask him what he thought of what he was supposed to find out. He just told him to go find out what he had. And so that's the next one. Jesus is starting to move to solution. What do you have? Well, I have this little bit. Okay. But then he starts moving to the real solution. He says, bring them to me. Bring them to me. That is what he's trying to get them to do. What little you have.
• 19:29
  all you have to do is find out what little you have, even if it's very little bit. You don't have to evaluate somehow if that's going to be inadequate or whatever. The key that you need to do with those things, that even the little bit that you have, is bring them to me. Because I'm the one that solves that problem. I'm the one that will take care and to feed the multitudes through the little that you bring. You see, Jesus didn't have to use the five loaves and two fish. He could have just, you know, snapped and...
• 19:58
  made anything he wanted, but it's interesting that he asked them to find out what they had and bring them to him, and then he multiplied it and then gave it to everybody else. It's amazing what Jesus was doing in this whole part about how he was working here. Jesus guides them to the solution. He knew that they didn't have any faith, right? Andrew said, what good is that?
• 20:24
  You got to send them away. There's nothing here. They weren't thinking anything beyond what they could physically see. And we're going to see that over and over again. And as you've seen this, maybe as you've read God's word, Jesus is always bigger than what we think.
• 20:38
  We always kind of limit them down so like Jesus is like this little bobblehead on our dashboard. You know, we kind of can picture him and everything like that. He breaks those ideas of who he is so often because he shows us that our conception of him, even our best conception, never matches who he really is. And so he continues to challenge his disciples as well as us of who he really is.
• 21:03
  And so the disciples were limiting in a sense, hey, if we can't figure out a solution, then God can't really either. Jesus, you can't either, so this is what you need to do. And so oftentimes we do that, I do that. God, you're only limited of what I can think of. But that's not what God is asking us to do, to think of the solution. He just says, just bring what you have to me. You don't need to worry about that part. I'm taking the pressure off you to figure out the solution. You just need to bring what you have to me. That's what you need to do.
• 21:32
  And so he tears them down to build them up, and Jesus shows us, he meets us where we are, even when the disciples didn't have any faith, he met them where they are, said, go find out, bring them to me. The essence of faith is to entrust what little we have to Jesus and let him work.
• 21:52
  All we do is entrust it to him. We give it to him in faith. Even when we feel like there's nothing going on, the disciples certainly weren't feeling good, but they're entrusting those small things that they have to the Lord and let him take care of it. That's how he builds and encourages our faith because it's not up to us to somehow figure it out. It's up to Jesus to the one who provides for that.
• 22:13
  So we see that first, how Jesus builds and encourages our faith. Then second, he shows his generous nature. First of all, he prepares everyone by having them sit down in groups. That'll make it easier to distribute. They didn't know why they were going to do that, but okay, you said to sit down in groups, and so they sat down in groups. And I want to read verses 11 to 13 again, because it's important to continue to remember what the Lord says. He says,
• 22:37
  Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish, and they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, Now gather the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. So first of all, what we see is Jesus took what little they had, they entrusted it to him. He gives thanks to God.
• 23:05
  He shows his submission to the Father as God himself, in submission to God the Father, because that's how the relationship is, is that he thanks the Lord for this. What little it was, right? It wasn't even his disciples' food. It was somebody else's food. He thanks the Lord for that and then starts multiplying it. It says he multiplied it so they ate as much as they wanted. As much as they wanted. So think about what's happening. Jesus takes these five loaves and two fish and all of a sudden they become,
• 23:35
  you know all the baskets are full and the disciples he gives the job of taking all of these baskets to these different groups out there and the disciples you can just kind of see the disciples did that really happen they go and take the food off to this group baskets empty they come back did that really happen come back wow it happened and they go back and do that again and you can see the disciples and the crowd
• 24:00
  I mean, to distribute the food over for 20,000 people, that had to take a while. I mean, that wasn't just a five-minute affair. And the disciples, as they're distributing the food, because there's so many people, you know that they were getting other people involved. In other words, okay, I've got baskets in here. I'll give them to you. You take them over to those groups, and let me go back, and I'll get some more. Here, you take them to those groups.
• 24:25
  And so the disciples are starting to see that not only is their resources, are they multiplied by Jesus, they're getting a clue of what ministry is. Ministry is taking what Jesus multiplies, he provides, and ministry is just being a conduit. Just taking what Jesus provides and taking them to the people and getting other people involved. Okay, I'm going to give it to you. You give them to those people. You give them to those people. You get all these groups fed.
• 24:52
  And Jesus keeps multiplying as long as there's hungry. Hey, you still hungry over there? Wait a minute. There you go. Hey, you want some more fish? Good. There you go. And so he's just continuing to do this, showing his generous nature as much as they wanted, as much as they wanted. Those five loaves and two fish became 12 baskets of scraps, which is a good reminder later as the disciples said, wow, did that really happen? Well, I got all these scraps from that. Well, okay, that really happened because I saw it.
• 25:23
  a mile marker in Jesus' ministry that all the gospels would have it. There's no way you could fake that. They're in the middle of a desolate area. Jesus doesn't have a magic curtain behind him. He's in the middle of just fields. And you know that as people, they started multiplying this, people are going to say, what is going on over there? I've got to go look. And so they go over there and look and see all this happening.
• 25:47
  That's amazing. And then they say, but I'm not getting fed. I need to go back to my group. I need to sit down and eat. And so you can't fake this. And so that people are seeing that Jesus' true nature, there's no doubt about what's going on. The disciples around him, the people around him, it's all happening, and it's amazing what's going on that he's doing this. And so Jesus shows his generous nature, his character that they can't doubt, of how he feeds them as much as they want.
• 26:14
  When they were hungry, didn't know where they were going to get food, all of a sudden they have more than enough. Stuff a couple fish in your pocket and put it in the basket that was empty. Hey, I can go home even with that. I can even go home with that. It's amazing what the Lord does, showing his generous nature. And then lastly, he shows, we've seen how Jesus encourages and builds our faith by just entrusting to him what little we have, and he multiplies it.
• 26:41
  Then he shows his generous nature and many times he shows that through us. Just by ministry of just multiplying the little that we give him, he gives us the strength like we sang about and just giving it out to people. It's what the Lord does. All I'm doing is just being a vessel for him to use to get it out to everybody else and getting other people involved.
• 27:02
  Finally, we see that he focuses people to believe in him. You remember the reaction to the miracle. Okay, so all this happens and the people, again, remember I said it's about a year before the crucifixion, it's Passover time. They said, he's the prophet. He's the guy. He has to be. Look what's happening. And so let me read that passage, though. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 17 to 19. This is the passage that people are thinking of.
• 27:29
  that the Lord wrote, Deuteronomy 18, 17 to 19, it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. And so the crowds had it really half right. Was he the prophet? Yes. Should he become king?
• 27:59
  Hey, that's our idea. We're going to make him king. That's not what Jesus told him to do. In fact, you see at the end of the story, Jesus dismisses the crowds. He puts the disciples in a boat, which again is the other half of the day that we would talk about. And then he himself goes up in the hills to pray. So he disperses the crowd. It's not the time to try to be a king like this. And it's interesting, there are parallels between Moses and Jesus. Moses was a teacher, so was Jesus.
• 28:27
  Moses was the man who started the old covenant. Jesus, through his death, establishes the new covenant. Jesus is the one who had a communion with the Father that no one else could have. Moses is the one who saw God face-to-face, or almost face-to-face. He actually saw the back of God. Moses also was one who was an intercessor. Jesus is our intercessor. Moses was a leader. Jesus is our leader.
• 28:57
  But also it's interesting, Moses had crowds that refused to obey him and rebelled. Well, Jesus also had crowds that refused to believe him and disobeyed. So it's interesting when the crowd said he's the prophet, it was a little bit of self-condemning because if it's like Moses, what does that mean about us? And so the call to be for the prophet is to listen to Jesus. That's what they needed to do, but they were trying to get ahead of Jesus and what he wanted them to do.
• 29:28
  And so one of the things that we see throughout the Gospels is what are miracles, what are the purpose of all the miracles? Why all the miracles? Well, the miracles point people through the miraculous events of who Jesus is, because he's the one who does the miracle. So it's not the miracles themselves that should be the main focus, but the one who does the miracles.
• 29:52
  Because one of the things you see later in John chapter 6, he rebukes the crowds, Jesus on the other side of the lake, he said, you're only following me because you got fed. He said, don't work for the food that perishes, work for the food that goes to eternal life, and that means believing in me.
• 30:10
  Because John and his gospel, that's the whole purpose of the gospel, is he wants people to see who Jesus is as the Son of God and his character, and that we believe in him, we trust in him because of who he is. And so miracles like this feeding of the 5,000 or 20,000 really is showing Jesus' character so we will trust him.
• 30:30
  There's another good passage I want to read from Isaiah 55. And I kind of wonder if people in the crowd maybe thought of this as it happened. Again, it's one of these things, as you are familiar with the Old Testament, many people have the Old Testament memorized. Boy, the bells might start ringing in their minds when they hear this. Isaiah 55, verses 1 to 3. This is what it says. Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink, even if you have no money. Come, take your choice of wine or milk. It's all free.
• 30:59
  Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen and you will find life. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
• 31:25
  moves from the idea of food to the real source of what you need to do is to have come with your ears wide open. The Lord starts in Isaiah 55, and again, I think the crowd would say, you know, all of this, we're coming and it's all free, but there's more to it than that. And this is why Jesus focuses us on believing. Just like in Isaiah 55, it said, you can get your food, but what I want you even more to do is come to me with your ears wide open.
• 31:54
  And I will make an everlasting covenant with you. What's a covenant? A covenant is a binding, loving agreement made between two parties. And so the Lord, in making that covenant with us, if we will obey him, if we will believe him, means that it's something like what happened actually to David. David being the predecessor of Jesus, and David...
• 32:19
  Jesus being the son of David, he's the one who would be the main fulfillment of this covenant. If you will come to Jesus, he will make an everlasting, loving agreement with you. You just need to believe.
• 32:32
  You don't need to work. It was just like the disciples. They didn't need to produce the fish. They didn't need to produce the bread. They just needed to entrust what they had to Jesus. And that's what he's calling us to, to have an eternal covenant, that binding agreement. He's done the work by dying for us on the cross. We don't do the work. We don't make ourselves acceptable. We don't figure out, well, if I just kind of clean up my act, then the Lord will accept me. No, that's not it. That means that somehow we're trying to produce the fish and the bread.
• 33:02
  But what we do is we entrust the Lord with who we are, as inadequate as we feel, as sinful as what we are, and he's the one who does the work. He multiplies, he gives us that eternal covenant so that we will come to know him, that we will come to believe in him, and that we would have forgiveness and full eternal life in him. So my question for you, have you come into that agreement with the Lord? He's the one who's offered. He says, here.
• 33:29
  It's all free. Will you come and take it? Will you come with your ears wide open and I will make an everlasting covenant with you? All you need to do is believe. All you need to do is believe. He's the one that provides the forgiveness. He's the one that provides new life. We just come. We just come. And for those of you who have already had that agreement with the Lord, if you've trusted in the Lord as your Savior and as your Lord, then this is just a great passage to remember what Jesus is like. He's so generous.
• 33:59
  And what ministry is like, we're just giving out what the Lord's given to us. And he's the one that does the work. We continue to entrust him. We feel inadequate. And that's actually the place we need to be. Because if we feel adequate, that means we're not coming to the Lord. But when we don't know what to do, that's exactly where we need to be. And that's what the disciples had to learn. You sympathize so much with the disciples. You know, we're no better than them. And we need to learn these same lessons. And so I love God's word because
• 34:28
  It was written so that we would learn. If it was written to show how smart the disciples were, we wouldn't see all these passages that make them kind of look kind of dumb. Because we really relate to when they're dumb because we feel it as well. It's just another great illustration that God's word is really true because of how it's presented. So I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to come to the Lord.
• 34:52
  Your inadequacies are his opportunity to show who he is and then be able through that, through our own inadequacy, to be able to minister to others. So when you came in here feeling like, boy, you're describing me, I hope so. But I hope you're encouraged that by entrusting these things to the Lord, he will be able to work through you in ways that you never would have imagined before because of who he is, not because of who we are, because he's so good.
• 35:19
  Lord, I thank you so much for this opportunity to be able to see your word. Lord, to know you and to walk with you. Lord, I thank you for our inadequacies. Lord, you say in another place to consider it all joy when you have various trials and temptations because, Lord, it's a chance for us to see our faith grow.
• 35:39
  And so, Lord, we want to entrust our things to you. Lord, you know each heart here. You know the sorrow, the pain, the questions, the inadequacies. Lord, everything that we may be feeling. Lord, you don't tell us to try to figure it all out. You just say, come to you.
• 35:56
  with the inadequacies that you multiply, as we trust you, that shows your work, shows who you are, that people are fed, and Lord, we get a chance to be a part of that. So Lord, you know each heart. I pray that you would help us this week as we think through these areas, that you would encourage us in our faith and our walk with you. Thank you, Lord, again for your goodness. Amen.